Lighting designers pay a great deal of attention to the quality of the lighting provided, expressed in horizontal foot-candles. Too often they fail to bear in mind the fact that the objects of primary attention are viewed from the side and, consequently, are seen primarily or only in a vertical plane. For example, in a sports arena, a moving ball, or players, may be seen from the side, primarily. Therefore, the light levels in a generally vertical plane are very important, but are generally inadequately lighted.
Despite the above being fairly obvious, it is most common today to mount the High Intensity Discharge Bulbs (HID(s)) so that the vast majority of the light descends to the floor, and a relatively small amount of the light strikes the vertical surfaces such as are commonly found in warehouses, sports arenas, supermarkets, etc. I have designed a new reflector which produces a higher ratio of vertical to horizontal illuminance, and which yields improved overall visibility in situations where vertical surfaces are of substantial importance. As a result both lighting performance and increased safety are provided, and the lighting is free from shadows and hot spots. The lighting equipment available heretofore has been inefficient and non-cost-effective. In addition, it has been non-uniform.
Conventional high intensity discharge (HID) installations at industrial locations require great wattage. Consequently, fluorescent lighting for expansive areas has been adopted widely because of its marked efficiency, as compared to incandescent lighting. The use of such lighting, however, has been plagued with the early burning-out of the fluorescent bulbs, particularly when they are first energized. Such installations are commonly energized through an electronic-only ballast, and that combination has proved to be very economical, except for the heavy burn-out losses of the lamps. Thus, a need exists for some way of substantially reducing the early burning-out of such lamp installations.